The Good?

It was a lot less humid than it was the past couple of days – thankfully. I ran very comfortably at around an 8:30 pace for most of the run. The shoe worked great and I did work up a pretty good sweat.

I went through the 5K in 26:28 not super fast, but it gives a time to chase after next time I want to do want to run faster, without getting into race effort kind of speeds.

What did I learn?

That going up that deceptive hill between mile 2 and 3 requires more than a little extra effort to keep the pace moving along consistently. I know that I slow down over this stretch most times, so if I want to keep the same pace, I really have to think about working harder for this mile stretch.

To run on the other side of the street when going by the McQuillan’s, the part pitbull came out at me and I had to stop and grab his collar.

I have to be mentally tougher when something like that happens on a run an not let it bother me as much as it did. I let the encounter get into my head and lost focus on maintaining good form and gave up running at the level I had been.

The Run

Planned – Run a faster 5K out towards Goodhue and then figure out whether to do 10K or 7.0 when I get closer to being done.

• 1.0 – 8:25 / I said that I was going to run a faster for the first 5K, so I put a little more effort into the first mile than usual. Although the rocks on the dirt road did make things a little more interesting.
• 2.0 – 8:24 / Fairly steady, but I had to duck into the woods before the old dump. It seems like that area is the about the time that I need to.
• 3.0 – 8:45 / I really thought that I had turned the pace/effort up enough to keep that sub 8:30 pace going, but misjudged a little more than I thought going up that deceptive hill.
• 4.0 – 8:37 / I did purposely slow down from the end of the 5K to the top of the hill by Goodhue. I made it there in 28:55, which is a nice time for me.
• 5.0 – 8:24 / The mid to higher ’70s in the sunshine had cooked me pretty good and I just didn’t have the ummph to push a lot harder at that point. I usually get a lot closer to breaking 8:00 on this part of the course.
• 6.0 – 9:47 adjusted 8:23 / Ah the last mile and I was pretty sure that I was going to do the full 7.0…well at least until the dog decided to come at me as I was going by. After that encounter, I just kind of gave up and while I maintained a decent pace, I had lost my focus, didn’t maintain the good form that I was working on and really wasn’t into the run at that point. Which meant that I didn’t push that little hill after you get off the tar on Tiffany.
• .21 – 8:28 / As I was going by Blake, I saw Mary coming down the hill and decided at that point that 10K was going to be far enough and that I would walk Stevens Hill. Mary decided to join me so it was a good choice and a nice conversation.

What was I thinking?

I was pretty upset that the McQuillan’s part pitbull came out into the road and I had to stop to hold it by its collar. He had a leash on but no people attached to it. I yelled for them to come get their dog and it took a bit but she came out to get it. She apologized and the dog was really starting to growl at me. Luckily it responded to her, but I didn’t release it until she had her hand on the collar too.

Oh well, it did cost me at least 1:24 in time on that mile, but at least I got away without any teeth marks on my body parts. I also had one hand on the pepper spray in my waist pouch if it had turned too aggressive.

I had stayed focused on my running and maintained good form (for me) until the dog encounter. Unfortunately, once that incident occurred I couldn’t refocus on the run and kept replaying the encounter over in my head until I got to Blake and saw Mary. Once I decided to stop at 10K, I focused on getting to the lower gate. Nothing great, but I did better than I had been.

• Course: Goodhue 10K
• Weather: Cloudy, but the sun was out more than it was behind clouds, 74*F, 60% humidity, Wind 11 mph from W
• Distance: 6.21
• Time: 54:08
• Pace: 8:43

Shoes: New Balance 1400v6 – Absolutely the best shoe in my rotation right now. I can go pretty much whatever speed that I want and do it comfortably, there is not pinching on the right little toe or any of that stuff. Although on the dirt road section, I had to be pretty aware of the rocks – loads of road feel in them.

Progress: It felt good to run at an 8:30 pace pretty consistently on that course. It probably would have been right at 8:30 without the dog escapade. I really believe that I did better on holding my form and keeping my cadence in the 170 spm range.

Overall a pretty good run, but one that would have been a lot better without it being interrupted by McQuillan’s dog.